*Akinboro And Akangbe Write Board Of Trustees, Say President Has Forfeited Moral Authority To Oversee Elections
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Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Aare Muyiwa Akinboro, SAN and Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe, SAN, have written a formal letter to the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association demanding the immediate resignation of NBA President Afam Osigwe, SAN, over what they describe as an open admission of bias and persistent partisan conduct during the ongoing electoral process of the Association.
The letter, dated 15 February 2026 and received by Olisa Agbakoba Legal on 17 February 2026, was addressed to the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and copied to the Chairman of the Body of Benchers, the NBA President himself, all Past Presidents of the Association, and all members of the National Executive Council.
The two Senior Advocates anchored their demands on a statement made by the NBA President at the National Executive Council meeting held in Maiduguri, Borno State, on 5 February 2026.
According to the letter, the President, responding to concerns raised by Mr. Adetunji Osho, SAN, regarding the open distribution of campaign materials at the NEC meeting, declared that he “cannot be neutral” because he has a voting right. He went further to defend his right to support any candidate of his choice and sought to justify his position by analogy to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointing an INEC Chairman whilst intending to contest the 2027 presidential election.
The letter states: “This statement was not made privately. It was not made in jest. It was made openly, on the floor of the National Executive Council, before numerous witnesses, with full consciousness of its implications. The President did not merely admit bias. He defended it. He wrapped it in the language of democratic rights and attempted to normalise conduct that is fundamentally incompatible with his constitutional duties as President of the Association.”
The two SANs stated that the Maiduguri admission did not arise in a vacuum but is the culmination of a pattern of partisan conduct that began months earlier and has steadily intensified.
According to the letter, the partisan activities of the President were first publicly manifested at the NBA Annual General Conference in Enugu in 2025. During the official Health Walk organised as part of the Conference programme, the President used the platform of the NBA and the authority of his office to permit only one presidential aspirant to distribute campaign-branded face caps and stickers to lawyers participating in the Health Walk. No similar opportunity was extended to other aspirants.
The letter further alleges that during the official “Unbarred Party” at the same AGC, a large projection screen displayed a prominent advertisement featuring a large image of the same aspirant. According to the SANs, an official social and networking event of the Association was utilised to amplify the campaign visibility of one aspirant to the exclusion of others.
“These incidents at the AGC 2025 in Enugu were widely observed and discussed within the Bar. They marked the beginning of a visible alignment between the office of the President and a particular aspirant in the forthcoming elections,” the letter states.
Beyond the use of institutional platforms, the letter alleges that the President has reportedly engaged in direct lobbying of members of the Bar, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria, urging them to vote for and support the same aspirant to the exclusion of others.
The letter states that there are Senior Advocates of Nigeria prepared to testify to the President’s personal calls to lawyers canvassing support for a particular aspirant.
The most recent instance of such direct lobbying, according to the letter, occurred at the just-concluded Law Week of the NBA Yola Branch, where the President used his presence and platform to canvass support for that aspirant.
“This conduct goes beyond private political preference. It constitutes active campaigning by a sitting President of the Association during an ongoing electoral process over which he exercises institutional authority,” the letter states.
The letter raises more troubling allegations about the active deployment of the NBA machinery in support of the same candidate. The two SANs state that they have credible information that National Secretariat staff have been used to distribute campaign materials to lawyers across various branches of the Association. They allege that recently, umbrellas and face caps bearing the insignia of the same candidate were distributed in multiple NBA branches across the country.
“The use of the National Secretariat funded by the membership of the Association to distribute campaign materials for a particular aspirant represents a grave abuse of institutional resources and a fundamental breach of neutrality,” the letter states.
The SANs further allege that organs of the NBA, including committees and administrative structures operating under the direction and supervision of the President, have been instructed or subtly guided to organise their programmes and activities in a manner calculated to project and favour the same presidential candidate.
“When the entire institutional framework of the Association is perceived to be mobilised in favour of one aspirant, the electoral playing field is irreparably distorted,” the letter warns.
The letter also raises concerns about the unilateral annulment of the NBA-SPIDEL elections by the President. According to the SANs, the Section on Public Interest and Development Law had commenced an electoral process that was at an advanced stage, with some candidates reported to have emerged unopposed. That process was abruptly annulled by the President, and a caretaker committee was imposed to run the affairs of SPIDEL for the next two years.
The letter states that this action was taken without transparent due process and without a formal adjudicatory framework addressing complaints from stakeholders. It notes that Egbe Amofin Oodua likened this development to the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
“Whether or not one agrees with that analogy, the damage to confidence in internal democracy within the NBA is undeniable,” the letter states.
The letter raises serious questions about the independence of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association as presently constituted, stating that given the President’s open admission of bias, his sustained partisan activities since AGC 2025, his direct lobbying of members, and the deployment of institutional resources in favour of one aspirant, “it is no longer possible to maintain confidence that the ECNBA can operate free from influence.”
The SANs also rejected the President’s analogy comparing himself to the President of Nigeria appointing an INEC Chairman, stating: “The NBA President is not a distant appointing authority. He is the head of the Association under whose watch the ECNBA is constituted and under whose leadership the electoral process is conducted. The proximity, influence, and institutional control he wields are direct and substantial.”
The letter makes a decisive statement: “No one disputes his right to vote. The issue is institutional neutrality. He cannot be both partisan advocate and overseer of the electoral environment.”
In light of the foregoing, Akinboro and Akangbe respectfully called on the Board of Trustees to intervene urgently and decisively, making four specific demands:
First, they called on Afam Osigwe, SAN, to resign immediately as President of the Nigerian Bar Association, stating that having openly declared that he cannot be neutral and having engaged in sustained partisan conduct, he has forfeited the moral authority required to continue in office during an election season.
Second, they called for the immediate reconstitution of the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, with clear safeguards guaranteeing independence, transparency, and neutrality.
Third, they called for the establishment of an independent election oversight mechanism, free from the influence of the President or any partisan interests, to ensure that the forthcoming elections reflect the true will of the membership. Such a mechanism, they stated, should include respected past Presidents of the Association and other elders of unquestioned integrity.
Fourth, they called on the Board of Trustees to use their good offices to ensure that the forthcoming NBA elections are conducted under conditions that guarantee credibility, transparency, and fairness.
The letter concludes with a stark warning: “The NBA cannot credibly demand fairness and justice in society while tolerating conduct that undermines fairness within its own ranks.”
“The admission has been made. The pattern is evident. The institutional damage is significant. The time for corrective action is now,” the SANs wrote, urging the Board of Trustees to treat the matter with the urgency it deserves.
ADMISSION OF BIAS AND PERSISTENT PARTISAN CONDUCT BY THE PRESIDENT OF NBAGiven the grave nature of the matter and its implications for the integrity of the Association, the authors stated they are compelled to make the letter public and to share it widely with members of the Bar.
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